What should I do with this ?

[Drew Marold]

Trimmed off a pretty large branch from the neighbor's apple tree that had broken in a storm, and brought home a nice haul of wood. One piece I'm not sure how to proceed with, it the bit that came off at the main trunk. Any suggestions for how to prepare & turn this piece ?
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I'm only just getting into larger pieces. I got a 3520B back around Memorial day, and only recently turned anything larger than what I used to do on my no-name 10" mini.

Thanks,
Drew

[Bill Wyko]

Put it in a box & send it to me. I would cut it down the center & do some NE bowls out of it.

[Thom Sturgill]

While I will not address your question directly, I will recommend that you get a copy of John Jordan's "The Aesthetics & Properties of Wood". The cutting of blanks to get the BEST rather than the BIGGEST piece and the grain orientation that is desirable is too much to answer in a single post.

[robert baccus]

Beautiful wood but the branch wood (off center pith) will move like crazy. Compression wood. Try to cut your blank so the grain is symmetrical on both sides and take all precautions to dry slowly. Apple loves to crack even when straight. Best of luck.

[Drew Marold]

I took the latter half of Bill's advice & cut it down the middle. Got two ~12" & two ~4.5" blanks out of it. Roughed out one of the big ones, and started on one of the small ones. We'll see how it goes.
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[robert baccus]

There are 2 ways to cut down the middle.